griffith aerospace safety centre training interventions for managing startle during unexpected...

Griffith Aerospace Safety Centre

Training Interventions for Managing Startle During Unexpected Critical Events

Wayne Martin

Griffith University Aerospace Safety Centre, Brisbane, Australia

Griffith Aviation “Safety Through Education and Research”

Griffith Aerospace Safety CentreGriffith Aviation “Safety Through Education and Research”

Fear-potentiated Startle

A startle which has been enhanced by perceived or actual threat


Self-Efficacy

‘The belief in one’s capabilities to organise and execute the sources of action required to manage prospective situations’

Bandura (1986)

The ubiquitous reliability of the modern aircraft has done tremendous things for airline safety.

One of the by-products of this tremendous reliability however, is a semi-realistic expectation amongst pilots that things will very rarely ever go wrong.

A lack of expectation can lead to a heightened startle and acute stress response when something does go wrong.

The Curse of Ubiquitous Normalcy



Colgan Air – Buffalo 2009 Turkish Airlines – Amsterdam 2009

Air France 447 – Atlantic Ocean 2009 Pinnacle Airlines - Missouri, 2004

Some recent examples of Unexpected Events


Brain Mechanisms Associated With Startle



Hypothalamus

Activates adrenal medulla

Activates sympathetic nervous system

Activates the adrenal-cortical system by releasing

CRF

Pituitary Gland secretes hormone ACTH

Releases norepinephrine

ACTH arrives at the adrenal cortex and releases approx. 30

hormones

bloodstream

Releases epinephrine

Impulses activate glands

and smooth muscles

Neural activity combines with hormones in the bloodstream to constitute fight-or-flight response

Amygdala

The Acute Stress Reaction

(Fight or Flight)

• Research has shown significant impairment in information processing for up to 30 seconds

• Information processing tasks such as attention, perception, situational awareness, problem solving and decision making can be markedly impacted.

• Communication is often disorganised and incoherent for some time.

• Psychomotor impairment often occurs but generally lasts for only 5-10 seconds.

The Cognitive Effects of Startle


Mitigating Startle

Mitigation of startle Effects comes through two efforts:

1.Better Prevention of critical events

2.Improving Recovery training

Prevention Strategies

Improved training and attention to:-situational awareness skill sets; and -pilot monitoring skills.

Mitigating Startle


Maintaining an accurate mental picture requires a number of individual skills working in concert. These skills include:

Situational Awareness

• Effective Communications• Planning• Storage and Retrieval of Knowledge• Temporal Awareness• Vigilance• Workload Assignment and Management• Reviewing and Modifying Plans• Inquiry


Pilot monitoring involves the comparison of environmental cues to a master mental schema which is continuously updated for local variations on the day.

A framework of SOP’s form expectations which are reinforced through repetition.

On any given day this continuously updated ‘mental model’ of what should happen is compared by both Pilots to actual conditions, and disparities are either noticed and addressed, noticed and ignored, or not noticed.

Mitigating Startle


•Improved training and attention to situational awareness skill sets, and particularly pilot monitoring skills •Developing greater expectation and efficacy for managing unexpected critical events

Mitigating Startle



•Improved training and attention to situational awareness skill sets, and particularly pilot monitoring skills •Developing greater expectation and efficacy for managing unexpected critical events •Greater awareness of startle effects.

Mitigating Startle



•Improved training and attention to situational awareness skill sets, and particularly pilot monitoring skills •Developing greater expectation and efficacy for managing unexpected critical events •Greater awareness of startle effects. •Encouraging Pilots to have personal strategies for managing unexpected critical events

Mitigating Startle

Recovery

•More focus on evidence based training

Mitigating Startle


Recovery

•More focus on evidence based training•Improved training on recognition and management of undesired aircraft states

Mitigating Startle


Recovery

•More focus on evidence based training•Improved training on recognition and management of undesired aircraft states•Exposure to unexpected critical events during training.

Mitigating Startle


When pilots are suddenly confronted with an unexpected critical event, they often become startled.

Startle has the ability to disrupt cognitive processes for up to 30 seconds, particularly where it is experienced in conditions of real threat.

This time may be critical in the recovery or decision making process.

Adopting holistic training interventions for managing startle will have other benefits including improved threat and error management, and improved prevention of, and recovery from, undesired aircraft states.

Summary


QUESTIONS?
